The Northern Region and the University of Montana teamed up to create a program that helps prepare college students for careers in the high tech industry. This spring, three students are graduating with skills they developed in part through an agreement between the Northern Region and the university.

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The Forest Service also benefits from the agreement. The software the students maintain, OpenSIMPPLLE, is the primary vegetation analysis model the Northern Region uses to support forest plan revisions, including those for Nez Perce Clearwater, Flathead, Lewis and Clark Helena and Custer Gallatin national forests.

Last summer, students Gregory McMann and Michael Kinsey updated the software to include a fire spreading algorithm developed by RMRS researcher Dr. Robert Keane. “I was impressed with how quickly these students built this into the model,” said Keane. “This is an excellent step in the right direction,” he added.

“I’m still pulling together my resume,” said Gregory McMann, one of the graduating seniors working on the project, “and my work on OpenSIMPPLLE for the Forest Service is definitely one of the things I’m going to highlight. I’m optimistic it will make me look very competitive.”

The OpenSIMPPLLE model is available for download through the University of Montana website.